Collided with COVID-19 Pandemic, the 2020 Yangtze Flood Is Exceptionally Severe

During June to July, 2020, persistent heavy precipitation in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) is resulting in extensive flooding, with over 158 fatalities and tremendous economic losses. This year's disastrous flooding extreme is exceptionally different from those of other years. It contains over 1000-year return period events (for 30-day cumulative precipitation) as observed in Anhui, Guizhou and Sichuan Provinces. The mean precipitation is 308 mm in July 2020, being 54 mm higher than that of July 1998, when serious floods affected the entire Basin causing tremendous socio-economic consequences. Compared with 1998, the short-term (e.g., 1 day) precipitation in YRB did not show significant increases, while the long-term (e.g., 30 days) cumulative precipitation increases significantly. The highest observed 30-day cumulative precipitation is 1221 mm (in Anhui Province) in 2020, while the highest one in 1998 was 1028 mm (in Jiangxi Province). We thus find that this persistent heavy precipitation is the main cause of flooding in 2020. At the same time, TGR may mitigate up 43% of upstream flood, although the main contributors to this year's YRB flood are in the middle and lower reaches. Affected by COVID-19, the number of people at risk in the threatened area are increased, and their capacities to mitigate the dual impacts of COVID-19 pandemic and flooding are hindered since (a) the flooding-caused mitigations may limit people's ability to prevent from virus spreading, and (b) the pandemic is retaining a large amount of migrant workers being within YRB and subject to flooding impacts. Overall, our main discovery is that, although the short-term precipitation in YRB did not increase significantly in 2020, the cumulative one increased significantly in 2020!. © 2022 ISEIS All rights reserved.

Effects of equity, perceived organizational support and job satisfaction on organizational commitment in Macao's gaming industry

Purpose This study explores the relationships between equity, perceived organizational support, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and counterproductive work behavior in Macao's gaming industry. Additionally, it investigates whether the Covid-19 outbreak has effects on employees' perceptions and behaviors. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from two surveys using convenience sampling, one involving 260 casino employees in 2019 and another involving 250 employees in 2020 after the outbreak of Covid-19. Findings No significant difference was observed between mean scores from respondents in the first and second surveys on job equity, pay equity, perceived organizational support and job satisfaction (p > 0.05). However, significant changes were found in mean scores for three organizational commitment items (negative changes;p < 0.05) and three counterproductive work behavior items (positive changes;p < 0.05). Results of structural equation modeling indicated that job equity and pay equity affected perceived organizational support and job satisfaction while perceived organizational support impacted organizational commitment directly and indirectly through job satisfaction, all with R-2 values greater than 0.6. Organizational commitment negatively influenced counterproductive work behavior. Research limitations/implications The Covid-19 impact on casino employees' perceptions and behaviors was contingent upon the duration of pandemic. Originality/value The study is one of the first empirical studies to integrate social exchange theory and equity theory to organizational commitment in Macao's gaming industry. Job equity and pay equity were found to influence organizational commitment through perceived organizational support and job satisfaction. Additionally, the Covid-19 did not have significant effects on employees' equity, perceived organizational support and job satisfaction perceptions.